Hiscox sees $150 million net claims from Hurricane Harvey

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Sept 18 (Reuters) - Lloyd’s of London underwriter Hiscox Ltd said it estimates net claims of about $150 million based on an insured market loss of $25 billion from Hurricane Harvey, which lashed Texas in the last week of August.

“This (claims) is within the group’s modelled range of claims for an event of this nature, and reinsurance protections for the group remain substantially intact,” Hiscox said.

Hiscox said it had two main areas of exposure to Harvey, which caused a prolonged period of flooding over Houston - reinsurance and insurance lines, including flood cover for homeowners and businesses.

“After a long period of price reductions, insurance rates in the affected areas and in specific sectors such as large property are likely to increase. In the wider global insurance market for large risks, we expect rates to stabilise and begin to increase,” Chief Executive Bronek Masojada said.

Hiscox will announce an estimate of net claims arising from Hurricane Irma, once the impact of that storm has become clearer, it said.

Rival risk modelling firm RMS estimates insured losses from Harvey of $25-$35 billion, while AIR Worldwide forecast total insured losses in the United States for Irma of between $20 billion and $40 billion. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru, editing by Anjuli Davies)